David Davis, the former Tory shadow home secretary, has landed taxpayers with a £200,000 bill by calling a by-election for his Commons seat, it has been reported.

Mr Davis is set to be returned to the Commons in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election tomorrow. He held the seat by 5,116 votes in 2005, and bookmakers are certain he will win again this time.

Mr Davis resigned the seat last month in order to mount a symbolic protest at what he says is Labour's repeated erosions of British civil liberties.

But his hopes of directly challenging the Government in the seat were dashed when the Labour Party decided not to stand a candidate. The Liberal Democrats have also stayed out of the fight, saying they largely agree with Mr Davis.

That has left the field clear for a large number of minority candidates to stand: there are 26 candidates in all.

As well as Mr Davis, the contenders include David Icke, a former BBC sports presenter who once declared himself to be the "son of God. Others include a former Miss Great Britain, a man called Bus Pass Elvis and Mad Cow-Girl of the Monster Raving Loony Party.

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David Cameron and other senior Tories have campaigned for Mr Davis, but the cast of eccentrics and publicity-seekers fighting the seat has fuelled Conservative fears that the contest has become a circus.

New figures will only add to those concerns by showing just how much the Howden by-election has cost the public purse.

It has been calculated that the by-election process will cost more than £207,600.

The free mailing provided to each of the candidates will cost Royal Mail a total of £112,600. And East Riding Council which will administer the election and the counting of ballots tomorrow, is expected to spend at least £95,000.

The figures are likely to renew Labour claims that the by-election is a meaningless farce.